New reality

Over the next few days, more and more videos of werewolf attacks surface, and soon the internet is filled with conspiracy theories that seem more and more real by the day. Even the council starts panicking as they emit warnings to every member to avoid human contact as much as possible.

Clearly, something is wrong with the werewolf attacks. They act just like a bull in a Spanish corrida, attacking anything that moves in front of them. After the kill, they move on to the next target, so it's not hunger that motivates them.

Werewolves soon become a hot topic as that's all people talk about; On TV, at school, at work, on the internet, there is no escaping it. As more brutal attacks become plastered all over the media, people start pushing the politicians for answers.

And of course, it doesn't take long for them to announce a conference where they will explain their findings, so Thursday, at 7 pm everyone is glued to their device and awaits the news. Of course, you and Jenny are no exception as you join Mark and Nicole on their couch together with Leyla to watch the biggest and most important news ever.

Just as the world stopped to watch the astronauts land on the moon, they once again stop to watch the discovery of a new species.

By now, it would be stupid to think that all of this is normal. The question is what changed? Did the humans finally decide to retaliate? Have the vampires decided it's time to end the 'eternal war'? Are they working together? Why would the humans target the werewolves first and not the vampires, who treat humans as nothing more than cattle?

Soon the president walks over to the stage, and the crowd goes silent. He introduces a group of scientists and at the center of it all is someone called Adam Shaarawy.

— Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen, My name is Dr. Adam Shaarawy and I'm the head of the Department of Virology. Since the first reports of these events came in, our team has been working tirelessly and I am happy to announce that we have conclusive results. A new virus has emerged in our world. We can confirm this is not due to a biological weapon. We know many of you believed in those kinds of theories, but there is currently no evidence to support any human intervention in the virus strain.

— Although we don't fully understand the origin of the virus, the most likely explanation, and the one that I and my colleagues agreed on, is that it spread from the wild wolf. We decided to temporarily call this the Lycan-A1 virus or L-A1 for short. Once infected, it causes humans to temporary metamorphoses into an animalistic state.

"Yeah, no shit!" you snap.

"Shhhh..." Jenny admonishes you.

"Isn't a lycan a werewolf?"

"Can you believe he just called us werewolves on tv?"

"He'll get trashed online"

"This isn't even funny!"

"They can talk, but I can't?" you tease Jenny.

"Oh, shut up!" she replies while punching you lightly in the leg.

— The L-A1 virus is a rare strain of rabies that has mutated into a non-fatal form but has retained some of the most ferocious side effects. In normal rabies, the virus travels through the nerves directly to the brain, avoiding the immune system. However, this is not the case with the L-A1 virus. The infected have the virus in every cell of their body.

"Isn't it funny how they found out so much about it in such little time?"

"That's what you call an expert, Nicole!"

"Yeah, at lying"

— There is a slow cyclical accumulation of toxins in the patient's body that reaches a critical level and forces major changes in the endocrine system that initiate a temporary transformation. During this transformed state, the werewolf exhibits some of the usual symptoms of rabies; such as anxiety, hallucinations, and delirium.

"Bunch of lies..."

"Well... maybe not all of it..."

— These symptoms, along with cerebral dysfunction, induce a frenzy that causes the werewolf to behave like a rabid animal and attack anything that moves. Swelling of the adrenal glands causes a massive surge of adrenaline that gives them increased strength and speed that exceeds the human level.

"So we are crazy people with superhuman strength?"

"Yeah, they basically say, fear them."